Nippin' at my nose
by BookWorm5635
Summary: I lived in a small village nestled in the mountains. My days were spent going to school and shoveling snow. Always snow.I thought my life would be the same forever. I thought that I could save enough to leave the little village. But, that all changed the day I followed the footprints in the snow.
1. Barfoot prints

Look, I didn't want to be sucked into this. But I guess you can't really control what happens, only change it. That didn't really make sense, did it? I geuss I've been reading to many romantic novels. Now, I have to write this down before I forget. You always seem to forget the most amazing things, don't you? Now, let's start the introductions, shall we?

My name is Ashlynn Grace. I live an a small village nestled in the mountains, just north of nothing. Not much ever happens around here. Why do I live here, you ask? I don't really have a choice. My parents lived here since birth, as did thier parents, and thier parents, and... well, you get the point. My days are spent going to school and shoveling snow. Always snow. My parents say it's because of the altitude, but I know better. I know that it's something more. _Someone _more.

I know that it's Jack Frost.

I know because I belive. I know because I saw him. It was on a Saturday in January, Christmas already come and gone, when I saw him. See, I was really more of a loner. None of the girls would play with me because I didn't know how to sled. None of the boys would play with me because I was a girl. All I had was my books and my dog, Boreas.

So, that Saturday in January, I was sitting on a bench reading a book when, suddenly, a snowball hit me in the leg. I deided to ignore it. And, like most things you ignore, it came back. After the third one hit, I looked up. None of the other kids were even near my bench. Putting down my book, I naturally went to investagate. It being a small village, stories of elves and trolls circled it. I had never _really _belived in them. Not really... As I looked around, I saw a set of footprints leading to the woods. That wasn't in the least bit odd. But, the footprints struck me as odd because it was an actual _foot_print, not a boot-clad print.

Every fiber of my being was screaming, _Don't go into the woods after some barefoot person in the middle of winter! _But, natuarally, I did anyway. Following them to the edge of the wood, I stopped. You know that logical voice in your head, the one that affects your good judgement? Well, it was being overuled by that little curious voice at the moment. And if it was some maniac elf that wanted to eat me, then while I was roasting over a fire, my logical voice would say, _I TOLD YOU SO!, _just like my older brother does.

With a deep breath, I walked towards it to the forest.


	2. A Crunching Sound

We were all warned not to go into the forest. Bears and wolves and mountain lions prowled there after dark. But, my grandmother told me that tricky elves and frost giants inhabited it also. I then remembered one of my favorite bedtime stories when I was little. Grandma would put me on her bony lap and tell me the story of one elf, an elf that didn't age like the others. An elf with snowy white hair and crystal blue eyes, whose wooden staff could freeze trees and ponds solid. As I stood there, thinking, the story of that particular elf popped into my head.

_There was once an elf, whose snowy white hair glowed like fresh snow, that realized he didn't age like the other elves. He was shunned by them, forced to live as an outcast. But, one day, when he was walking through the forest, he happened upon a wandering sorcerer. The sorcerer was very powerful, but very lost. The sorcerer needed directions and food. So, the elf invited the sorcerer to his meager house. They ate and drank and laughed into the wee hours of the morning. Then the sorcerer said that he really needed to leave, for he had a meeting with the King of the Elves. When the elf heard that, he happily drew a map to the Elf King's castle. In return for his hospitallity, the sorcerer gave the elf a magic staff. The staff gave the elf power over ice and snow and the winter winds. From that day on, the white-haired elf was known as the Frost Elf, or more commonly as, Jack Frost._

I had been standing there contemplating for so long that my feet had nearly frozen inside my boots. To warm them, I walked a little farther along the footprints. It didn't work. I walked on my numb feet until I my side hurt. I paused for breath beside a boulder.

As my breath fogged out in front of me, I heard something. A crunching sound, like snow and ice cracking beneath a foot. I froze beside the boulder. The trees around me slowly turned crystaline and white. Almost as if they were... _An elf with snowy white hair with crystal blue eyes, whose staff could _freeze trees solid! The words from the story floated through my head. I thought that my grandmother's stories were affecting my mind. But they weren't. That curious little voice was back again, one hand over the logical voice's mouth, telling me to look around the corner. And, like an idiot, I did. And when I saw the thing awaiting my eyes, My feet weren't the only thing that were frozen. My whole body siezed up in terror.


	3. My Name is Jack Frost

I was frozen in horror. The thing in front of me was a pale blue hummanoid, with a shock of white hair and a beard that reached his ankles. And that wasn't even the terrifying thing about him. He was at least thirteen feet tall, tall enough to reach the top of the enormous pine trees surrounding him with his big blue hand. Being in that state of shock and terror, my thoughts weren't processing like they usually do. After about five seconds of scarcely breathing, I managed to get two coherent thought out of my horror-stricken mind.

_It's a frost giant. Straight out of grandma's stories!_ and_ Run. _And that's exactly what I did.

there was good news and bad news about my brilliant plan. Bad news: it didn't go exactly according to plan. Good news: I got away with all my limbs. As I was running away from certain death, the snow and ice crunched under my feet. Even if he didn't have good hearnig, he heard that. In one enormous stride, he had my path blocked by two size- twenty blue feet. Just as he reached down for me, his body siezed up, just as mine had only seconds earlier. Only, he siezed up in surprise rather than fear. As frost started spread over his still body, his eyes grew wide and darted all over. When everything except his head was encased in a crystaline coating, he couldn't hold himself up any longer. He fell, face first, directly in front of me.

Standing behind the fallen giant was a boy. A boy with snowy white hair... and _crystal blue eyes! _He had a wooden staff with a cresent shape on the top. His blue sweatshirt was speckled with ice crystals. His brown pants ended mid-calf. And he had... _No shoes! _This was the boy who left the barefoot prints. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever.

"Who are you?" I asked. He looked over his shoulder, as if checking for someone else.

"Me?" he asked, gesturing to himself.

"Yes, you!" I answered, slightly exasperated.

"You can see me?" He asked me. I nodded, wrapping my cloak tighter around my body. He jumped over the giant towards me and pinched himself. Then he reached out and touched my shoulder, then we both recoiled. His touch was as cold as ice. "You _can_ see me!" The boy's face was so full of joy, I had to stifle a smile.

"Why wouldn't I be able to see you? I mean, you're right here, plain as day," I answered slightly confused. The joy melted right off his face, like an icicle in a heatwave. He sat down on a fallen log and started to explain. "You see, up until now, you probably thought me to be just..._ there. _ Well, I am, in a way. I can only be seen and heard by those who belive in me. Same with the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, etc. And, well, you're the first person that's really belived that I exist. The first person to ever talk to me in...maybe, three hundred years,"

I just sat there, flabbergasted. "So, you're telling me that, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and all of them are only real if we _belive in them?" _I asked him. He nodded. I put my hand on his shoulder. It was cold, but it slowly started to ebb away. "So, you said that if we belive in you, we can see you, right? Then who _are_ you?" He looked at me again, and his crystal blue eyes seemed so much older than he appeared to be. With a deep breath, he said the five words that would change my life forever.

"My name is Jack Frost,"


	4. No Shoes

I sat there, abashed at what he had just said.

"D-d-did you say you were... Jack Frost?" I asked. The smae Jack Frost from my grandmother's stories? Well, I had seen a frost giant, so it would hardly be the strangest thing that had happenend to me that day. He nodded.

"Yeah, why?" he answered with a confused look.

"Oh... no reason. So, you know the Easter Bunny?" I quickly changed the subject.

"Don't even get me started on him. He's more of a kangaroo than a bunny." I laughed at this, because just imagine a giant pink kangaroo hiding Easter eggs in your backyard and try not to. His face brightened a little. I looked down and remembered that he didn't have any shoes.

"Don't your feet get cold? I could get you a pair of boots from the shop in town." I asked him. He wiggled his toes and laughed again.

"Not really. I don't need boots. They stay pretty warm, especially when I'm sledding. Do like to sled?" He answered.

"Well, I don't really know how. That's why none of the girls will play with me." Jack's face broke into a devious grin as he rubbed his hands together.

"Then, we'll have to teach you," he stood up and offered me his hand. "By the way, I never caught your name."

"I am Ashllyn. Ashllyn Grace." I supplied.

"Well, then, nice to meet you Ashllyn Grace."

I glanced at the sky. It was already beginning to grow darker.

"Oh, gosh. I have to go. My mother will be worried about me." Jack's face fell again.

"Okay, but don't forget about that sledding lesson!" He gave me one last smile before I left the forest for my house.

Little did I know that it was the last night I would spend in my own home.


	5. What's Going on?

Jack accompanied me to the edge of the forest. After waving goodbye, I headed to my bench to get my long forgotten book. With it in hand, I turned, and Jack Frost was no longer standing there. I sighed and headed back home through the ankle deep snow.

When I got home, my mother was in the kitchen preparing my brother's and mine's lunch for school tomorrow. My father was in the living room 'taking a nap' while really watching T.V. Grandmother was in her rocker, reading. I walked over to her and asked her if she would help me organize my bookshelves. She grudgingly obliged, but there was a suspicious glint in her eye.

Once they were in my room, grandmother turned on me. "What is _going on _with you? Your bookshel is neater than the library's." She _always _knew when something was up. I started to fiddle with the corner of my shirt, wrapping it around my thumb and then unwinding it, like I always did when I was nervous.

"Uh, grandmother, you know those stories you told me when I was little?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't think I was crazy.

"Yes." She answered, more than a little suspicious. This was not going to be easy.

"Were they...by any chance, possibly, _true_?" I braced myself for her laugh.

"Ashllyn Julia Grace! Do I look like someone who would lie to you? _Of course_ they were real!"

"Th-they were? Oh, good! I thought I was going crazy! Grandmother, I saw a frost giant! And the snow elf, Jack Frost!" grandmother's eyes went wide after this statement. She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hallway. She yanked down the largest picture on the wall, of me and my brother when we were little, and behind it was...

A dark passageway. Grandmother led me down it, and into a circular room. The walls were decorated with the strangest carvings. One was a large man with a red and black suit and a long white beard. Another was of a strange hummingbird fairy creature. Yet another was of a small, porky man with a yellow robe and spiky hair the same color. The fifth was what appeared to be a gray kangaroo. There were two more spaces along the walls, as if the carvings that belonged there hadn't been made.

"Where are we?" I asked grandmother. She just walked to the center of the room, where a crystal rose from the floor and a hatch opened in the roof. The moonlight caught in the crystal, making it shine like the moon itself.

"Why her, why now?" grandmother asked the stone. She put her hand on it, and four lights streamed out of it like something out of a laser light show. The lights flew towards each of the carvings, dissapearing as if absorbed by the stone walls.

"Grandmother... What's going on?" She glanced at me and her eyes held something I had never seen in them before.

Fear. there was fear in her eyes. "Don't worry, Asllyn. I'll explain everything in time. Just hang on for now." Each of the statues eyes began ot glow bright white, until the light filled the whole room, nearly blinding me.

When my vision cleared, The sight in front of me nearly gave me a heart attack.


	6. A Secret Chamber

Standing before me, in a secret chamber in my house, were the carvings from the walls. Except, they weren't carvings, just exact, living, brathing replicas. They all took seats on benches that surrounded the room.

"Grandmother...?" I asked uneasily. I backed away slowly and reached behind my back for the doorknob, only to find that the entire door had dissappeared.

"Ashllyn, just give me a minute to explain," Grandmother looked up at the open hatch in the ceiling, "Why now? Okay, here it goes. This is North," The man in the red and black suit raised his hand in greeting. "the Easter Bunny," the kangaroo sent a small wave in my direction. "The Tooth Fairy," the humming bird lady smiled and waved excitedly. "And the Sand man," the small man in the yellow robe smiled and a peace sign that seemed to be made of sand flashed over his head. "And...North would like to explain the rest to you. North?"

The man my grandmother had called North glared and stood up. "Well, we- the ones you see around you- are what you call, Guardians." He spoke with a thick Russian accent.

"And what do you _guard_, exactly?"

"Er... Well, Tooth like to explain now. Tooth?"

The humming bird hybrid grandmother had called the Tooth Fairy stood as North sat down.

"We guard, well the things that make childhood the best times of people's lives. You see, I guard memories. Memories are stored in your baby teeth until you _really_ need them. North guards wonder, keeps it in the lives of children. Sandy guards dreams, witch shape the world, and Bunny guards hope, makes sure that all children always have hope. But, the Man in the Moon, kind of a leader to us, told us that the last two guardians, the ones that would help us defeat the nightmare king, Pitch Black, would arise when they both met. You and Jack Frost are the only ones that have met since before the Man in the Moon."

I jsut stood there with my mouth agape.

"So... how do you know if I'm a Guardian?" I asked

"Umm...Marisol? Would you care to explain?"

Grandmother sighed. "Well, you see, in the Grace family, every other generation is born with a Gift. A power of sorts. But, if there are more than one children in a generation, only one child recives the Gift. I had the Gift, as do you. And when the prophecy of the last two Guardians was issued, we knew one of them would be you. You see, the Gift is like what each of the Guardians guard. The Gift is magic."

I sat down on the cold floor of the secret chamber. My mind was in overdrive, trying to process the things I was hearing. It had been a long day that involved me almost dying, meeting five magical beings that shouldn't exist, and finding out that I had a special 'Gift' of magic.

"So, what happens now?" I asked the room in general. The Easter Bunny was the one that answered.

"Well, we have to swear you both in, and to do that, we've gotta get Jack," he spoke with an austrailian accent, wich made him seem even more like a kangaroo.

"He was going to teach me to ride a sled tomorrow. We could tell him tomorrow." I supplied, the pieces falling into place in my mind.

"Conider it done," Bunny said. With that, three of the four Guardians left the same way they came, in a flash of white light. That left me, grandmother, and the Easter Kangaroo standing alone in the chamber.


	7. Me and the Easter Kangaroo

Let me tell you, sleeping in the same room as an australian Easter Bunny. For one thing, he sleep walks. Or would it be sleep _hopping_? He kept getting out of the pallet grandmother had made on the floor for him and asking where the carrots were. I kept telling him that I didn't have any.

When he finally woke up, he yawned and stretched.

"I slept like a baby! How 'bout you?" he asked me. I sat up in my bed and glared at him.

"I had this wierd dream where a deranged kangaroo kept asking where my carrots were!" I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Wow, mate. That is pretty wierd. Hey, you got any carrots?"

I threw my pillow at him. He threw it back, and we had an all-out pillow war. That is, until Boreas, my greyhound, came in and started growling. Bunny backed up into the wall.

"Down, ya little bugger," he commanded. Boreas apparently didn't speak australian. In between giggles, I commanded Boreas to get down. He reluctantly obliged. My mother came in and asked why Boreas was growling.

"He-um-saw a moth." I answered. Since mother didn't belive in the Easter Bunny, she couldn't see him.

"Mmm hmmm. Get dressed, you need to-"

I cut her off "Shovel the walk. I'm on it" After I got dressed, Bunny and I left for the woods. After walking in silence for a while, I tried to start a conversation.

"You really _do_ look like a kangaroo. And the accent dosen't help," I said. "no offense."

He shook the snow off of his coat and glared at me. "How is that not offensive? I am _not_ a kangaroo. I am a pooka. Kangaroo, bah!"

"Did you say you were a poopa? What's a poopa?" I asked, quizzicaly.

"Pooka. Poo_ka_! The pookas were a race of philosophical warrior rabbits." he answered, puffing his chest a little.

"Were?" I asked.

"Yes, were. They were wiped out a long time ago. Don't know how, no one does."

"Sorry I brought it up. Oh, look we're here." We where, in fact, at the edge of the woods. We walked a little farther until we came to the boulder where I had first seen the frost giant.

"Stop. we're here," I told him. "Just wait here. I'll go talk to him, and explain our situation."

"Sounds like a plan, mate. The less I have to see of him, the better."

I rolled my eyes and walked into the clearing.


	8. Shoved in a Sack

I walked around the boulder and saw Jack sitting on the log where he was last time.

"Hey," I said. He turned around and his face lit up like a christmas tree.

"Ashllyn! I was kind of scared you wouldn't show up." he answered.

"Yeah. Look, there's this thing I've got to tell you. It's kind of complicated. Well, here goes. Last night my grandmother took me to this secret chamber in my hallway and There were these carving on the wall and then in a brght flash, they came alive and they were the Guardians and the Man in the Moon made this big prophecy like, a bazillion years ago and it said that when the next two Guardians meet they'd be the ones that would defeat the nightmare king, Pitch Black, and grandmother said that it's you and me and please don't think I'm crazy!" I said, comepletely out of breath. "Bunny! You can come out now!" but, Bunny did not come out.

Jack just stood there as the full impact of what I had just said sank in. And, just as I was sure he would leave, Bunny jumped out and shoved Jack into a sack. He threw what appeared to be a snowglobe into the air, where it promptly made a vortex of colors, like a portal.

"What are you doing? That was not part of the plan!" I screamed at him.

"We never discussed a plan, mate! I thought we were just winging it!"

"No, I said I was going to explain it to him, _then_ we would wing it!"

"Listen, we could already be at North's workshop by now! C'mon, mate!" and he jumped throught the portal. I reluctantly followed. It was the strangest feeling on earth. It was as if all the molecules in my body were becoming unglued, then reglued at supersonic speed. Colors swirled around me and noise bounded against my ears. It only lasted about two minutes, but it seemed like longer. When the swirling and noise stopped, I found myself tumbling onto an indoor terrace. It was comepletely made of dark wood and there was a compass pattern burned into the floor. Gathering my bearings, I realized three things.

One: There was a giant globe with little lights blinking all over it.

Two: There were elves. Dozens, if not hundreds, of them.

Three: North, Tooth, Bunny, and the Sandman were all present

Jack got out of the sack. North asked him how Bunny treated him.

"Oh, yeah, I love being shoved in a sack and sent through a portal!"

"Good, that was my idea!" North answered.

The elves swarmed my feet. They began to lead me down a hallway. I galnced at North and he laughed.

"They seem to take liking to you. Don't worry, they are harmless. Like little baby puppies." with that he let them lead me into what might possibly be the most wonderful place on earth.


	9. Elves and Yetis

Toys of all shapes and sizes wizzed and whirred all around me. Endless levels of balconies ringed the large room, and work benches with every toy from Barbie dolls to RC race cars. The elves looked around proudly as if they had made all of the toys single-handedly. But, I had a hunch tht wasn't the case. There were no elves in the work shop, save for the ones surrounding my feet.

All the ones making the toys were bigfoot-like creatures. What were they called? Yahtzis? No... Yetis! Yetis were making the toys. The elves wanted my attention again. The larger one (only about three feet tall), who appeared to be the leader, grabbed my hand and pulled me down a hallway off to the side of the balcony we were standing on.

The hallway got smaller and smaller, until I had to stoop down to get through. Just when I thought I couldn't stoop any lower, the passage opened into a room exactly like the one we had just left, only smaller. Like, elf sized. And if there were hundreds of elves in the main area, there were thousands here. The leader lead me to a work table and gestured to the three elves standing on it.

"Da ta!" he said, wich probably meant 'ta da'. One of the elves on the table plugged in a wire, wich was connected to a string of lights, wich was wrapped around a second elf. When it plugged in, the second elf twitched, and his eyes bugged. A smell like charred bacon filled the area. The lead elf led me back through the hallway, through the work shop and back through to the first room, where Jack, Bunny and I had landed when we first came.

Jack and Bunny were nose to nose. All I caught was the tail end of the argument.

"-the Easter Bunny."

I glanced at Tooth, who shot me a look like, _boys... _and rolled her purple eyes. North coughed and the guys stepped away from each other.

"Well, we've all been aquainted, now we get down to buissness," he rolled up his sleeves and started to explain. "You see, I would not have called you all here unless for good reason. The boogeyman was _here_! At the Pole!"

"Was it really Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?" Tooth asked.

"Yes. There was this black sand covering the globe-"

"What do you mean, black sand?" Bunny interjected.

"-And then, a shadow!" North continued.

"Wh-whoa, hold on. You said you saw Pitch." Bunny continued.

"Ahh, not exactly-"

"Whoa. Wait. You dragged me all the way here, halfway across the world, because you saw a _shadow_?" I said, jumping into the conversation. Tooth jittered around, giving orders to little flying fairies, like little, minature hers. Sandy was drinking from his eggnog cup, watching with mixed curiosity and amusement. Jack had been distracted trying to freeze as many elves as possible.

"Look, he is up to something very bad. I feel it. In my belly!" North said.

"Hang on, you mean to say you summoned me here three days before Easter, 'cause of your belly?" Bunny said, gesturing to North enormous belly. "If I did this three days before Christmas-"

"Ahh, Bunny, but Easter is not Christmas!"

"Here we go... North, I don't have time for this! I've still got two _million _eggs to paint!"

"But, no matter haw much you paint, they still eggs!"

From a skylight I hadn't noticed until now, something glimmered. Upon further examination, I saw that it was the moon. At three in the afternoon. It seemed to glide in line with the skylight, until that was all you could see out of it. Sandy noticed it to. He was flshing random sand signs over his head.

"Ummm, guys..." I said, pointing at the moon. Sandy was waving his arms and flashing sign over his spiky haired head. Tooth spotted him and gasped, like she had remembered something important.

"San Diego, Sector two!" she shouted to the mini-tooths. Sandy and I exchanged exasperated glances. I looked over at Jack, who was still trying to freeze the elves. Sandy finally snapped, grabbing an elf by the top of its pointy hat and shook him, making a jingling sound come from the bell on its hat.

They all stopped in their tracks. Sandy sighed and pointed at the moon. It began to glow, until its light touched the compass design burned into the floor. A crystal, like the one in my grandmother's secret chamber, rose from the center.

We all gathered around it, as it began to glow, just as the one in the secret chamber, it's light filled the entire workshop. The yetis stopped working to look in awe at the glowing crystal.

Then, the crystal showed us an image I will never forget for as long as I live.

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**Sorry this is kind of late, but I had some writer's block. I NEEEEED suggestions! **


	10. Everyone Loves the Sleigh

In the pale moonlight, ther was the profile of a man. He had slicked back black hair, and his eyes were bright white, with little yellow flecks. His features were so sharp, they looked as if they could cut through paper. The profile didn't stay long, and vanished, along with the moon, as fast as it had come.

"It really is Pitch..." Bunny whispered. We all stood still, even Tooth and her faries. North broke the silence by saying,

"Dark times are coming. We must be ready."

After that, there was nothing but silence. That is, until a mini-tooth flew in and started to chip rapidly to Tooth.

"Uh huh. Yes. Oh no!" she conversed with the fairy. With a signal, she flew out of the skylight before any of us could ask what was wrong, her fairies following closely by.

"North sighed, then beckoned one of the yetis over.

"Prepare the sleigh!"

The yeti scranbled away, calling to its fellows. Jack and I exchanged nervous glances.

"I'm not going with you guys! Ther is no way I'm climbing into some rickety old... sleigh." He stopped when the sleigh rolled out. It had wings, rocket boosters, and a miniature globe. Not to mention leather seats and a cup holder. And the reindeer... well, let's just say that they weren't from any Christmas specials _I_'_d_ ever seen.

"C'mon Jack!" I called, already halfway in the sleigh.

"Okay, one ride. But, that's it." And he climbed in to.

North chuckled. "Everyone loves the sleigh!"

When we all of but Bunny were in the sleigh, he tapped it with his foot.

"Bunny, what are you waiting for?" North asked.

"I-I think my tunnels might be faster, mate. And- um- and safer." he nervously gulped. Before he could hop off, North grabbed him by the ears and pulled him in.

"Buckle up!" he bellowed.

"Where are the bloody seatbelts?!" he demanded, patting the seats.

"Ha! That was just expression! Are we ready?" The yeti tending to the reindeer grunted, the slapped the lead reindeer's back-side. The sleigh glided forward into an icy passageways, icicles coming up from the floor and from the roof, like giant teeth. Glancing at Bunny, I saw that he was clinging desperatly to the side of the sleigh. Sandy, on the other hand, had both of his stubby little arms in the air. Jack was leaning over the side, shattering icicles with his staff, while I was trying to keep my cloak from flyin away from me.

"Ha ha! I hope you like the loop-de-loops!" North called over his shoulder, laughing like this was perfectly normal. Poor Bunny looked like he was about to loose his hard-boiled eggs.

"I hope you like carrots!" He said, his furry cheeks puffing. I looked back in front of me, and saw...

Open air.

We were flying. I leaned over the edge, and saw snow and ice glittering in the weak winter sunlight. A pack of white wolves glided over the tundra like a living white river. Turn ing my attention back to the sleigh, I noticed that Jack was looking at Bunny with the same look in his eye he had when he offered to teach me to sled.

"Hey, Bunny, would you check out this- AHHHH" and fell overboard. Bunny clung tighter to the seats.

"Did he just-he just-" He leaned over the railing. I was numb with shock and fear. Leaning over the edge myself I saw Jack sitting on the wing, looking up at Bunny.

"Aw. You do care," he said. I helped him back on board, then slapped him.

"OW! Jeez, what was that for?" he said feigning pain.

"For jumping overboard and making me- I mean us- think you had fallen overboard!"

He just laughed. And like the day I met him, his laugh relaxed me and made me calm down.

"Hey quiet back there! We almost there!" North bellowed.

"And where is_ there_, exactly?" I asked. But, it was Bunny who answered.

"Tooth Palace." He said in between hurls over the edge of the sleigh. And then, no sooner than he had said that, something big, black, and in the vauge shape of a horse nearly collided with the sleigh.

"What was that?" I screamed. North looked gravely over his shoulder, his eyes held something I thought not possible in Santa Claus's eyes.

Dread**_._**

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**Thanks to sabbs123 for the prophecy idea. **

**And to all my reviewers, fans, favoriters, and the rest of you! **


	11. Nighmares, Teeth, and Mini Storms

"That, dear child, is a Nightmare. They strike fear into the hearts of the children." he said, pushing the sleigh further towards the Tooth Palace. As another Nightmare, then another, then another still flew past, Jack started to freeze them. Sandy made something that looked like a horse whip out of dream sand. Bunny kept throwing little exploding easter egges at them, but North kept pushing forwards.

After the fifth Nightmare flew by, I started to notice something. They're ribcages were...

Actual cages. And in those cages held a dozen mini-tooths, each.

"Guys! Don't let the Nightmares fall! The mini-tooths are in them!" But no one heard me. And by the time we reached the actual Tooth Palace, all the fairies were gone. Tooth franticly fluttered around, looking in little slots in the golden walls.

"They took all of them. All the teeth. All the fairies." She floated towards a hallway, and dissapeared down it. Jack, Bunny, North, Sandy, and I exchanged confused glances, then followed. At the end of the hallway, it was a Japaneese-style zen garden. A sheer rock wall with a japaneese-style mural rose up at the far end, over a crystal clear pool. She sat down dejectedly at the edge of the pool, her face fallen and sad. Jack went down to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry about the fairies," he offered.

"You should have seen them. They put up such a fight." She answered, crestfallen.

"Why would Pitch take the teeth?" I asked.

"It's not the teeth he wanted, Ashllyn. It's the memories inside them. That's why we collect the teeth. They hold the most important memories of childhood."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked. Tooth flew over the water and Jack followed by freezing the water under his feet. I walked as close to the wall as I could, then stepped on some stepping stones.

"My fairies and I watched over them. And when someone needs to remember what's important, we helped them."

As she talked, I felt something tingle. A warm, fuzzy sensation in the pit of my stomach. I felt suddenly invigorated. But, as Tooth looked sadly at the mural, its paint started to flake and fall off.

"Huh! Oh no! The children! We're to late!" Her feathers started to fall off.

"No. NO! No such thing as to late!" North bellowed. He gathered us around him.

" .Hm...Wait. Wait, wait, wait! IDEA!" He said, swinging his swords. "We, will collect the teeth!"

"What?" Tooth asked, bewildered by such an idea.

"Yes, we get teeth, children keep beliving. In you!" he said to her.

"We're talking seven continents, millions of kids-"

"Give me break. You know how many toys I deliver in one night?" North said, his chest puffed up a little.

"And eggs I hide in one day?" Bunny interjected. Sandy floated to head-hight, and flashed a thumbs-up sand-sign.

Jack and I looked at each other. "I'm in!" he said.

"Me too!"I put in. That tingly feeling was back. I felt as if I could do anything. I felt like I could touch the sky, hold fire, run faster than light. As the feeling reached its peak, my fingers sparked. Like they had been stuck in an electrical socket. I tried to do it again, and this time, a miniature purple lightning storm formed in my hands.

"Ashllyn, what is keeping you?" North asked. I had been lost in thought so long that I hadn't even realized that the others were in the sleigh.

"Oh, nothing. I'm coming." I would have to expariment more with that. All I could think about was that mini puple storm I had conjured. That is, until we hit our first stop.

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**questions, suggestions, comments, and concerns go in the box below.**


	12. We will Collect the Teeth

Our first stop was Tokyo, Japan. And instead of setting us gently down on a roof top, North _flipped_ the sleigh over and _dumped_ us onto a roof top. When we were all gathered on the roof, Tooth gave us the gameplan. It only lasted five minutes, but halfway through it, There was a fluttering in Jack's sweatshirt pocket. And out came...

"Baby Tooth! Jack, you found the last free fairy!" Tooth gushed.

"Okay Tooth, I think we are ready." North said. As they prepared to leave, Sandy noticed that I couldn't fly. He thought for a moment, then made a small plane out of dream sand. It's wingspan was small enough to fit through city streets, yet big enough to hold a twelve year old girl. He patted th cockpit, gesturing me to get in.

"Thanks Sandy! You rock!" I told him. he blushed and flashed a stop sign over his head. As I jumped in the plane, I realized that it was surprisingly solid and firm, despite the fact that it was made of sand. The guardians all moved out in different direections.

"Hop to it, rabbit! I'm already five teeth ahead!" Jack shouted to Bunny.

"Yeah right, look, I tell you to stay out of my way, but really what's the point? You won't be able to keep up anyway!" he retorted, still bounding from roof to roof.

"Is that a challenge, Cotton Tail?" Jack asked, dodging a chimmney.

"Ohh, you don't wanna race a rabbit mate." Bunny shot back.

"Boys, quit arguing! Besides I'm beating you both!" I called, zooming forwards in my sand plane. And it went on like that for the whole night. Someone getting a tooth, someone else taking it, and the occasional run-in with a french mouse. When we had all the teeth in the Western hemisphere, we met up with Tooth.

"Wow, you guys collect teeth and leave gifts as fast as my fairies!" she said excitedly. North, Bunny, Sandy, Jack and I exchanged glances.

"Uhh..." I murmed. Sandy started to nod, then shook his head. Five minutes later, we were at an ATM, getting coins. Then, we hit the Western hemisphere again, this time leaving gifts. After a while North and Bunny ran out of coins, so they left easter eggs and candy canes instead. We hit the Eastern hemisphere, and things didn't go wrong until we got to our last stop, Burgess, Virginia.

We were at the Bennet hose, and Tooth looked under the boy's, Jamie, pillow. But, then, North stubbed his toe and grunted. Jamie's eyes snapped open. He groped in the dark for his flashlight. When he found it, he shined it on North.

"Santa Claus! The Easter Bunny! Sandman! The Tooth Fairy! I knew you'd come!"

"Surprise we came!" Tooth said. " You guys, he's still awake!"

Bunny nodded, "Sandy, knock 'em out!"

Sandy punched his hand in a classic, _knock him out, _motion. Jaime looked confused.

"With the dream sand, you gumby!" Bunny said. Sandy disapointedly made a dream sand ball. Before he could throw it, Jaime's greyhound started to growl at Bunny.

"No, stop! That's the Easter Bunny! What are you doing, Abbey? Down!" Jaime said, trying, fruitlessly, to pull Abbey down.

"Alright, nobody panic," Bunny said, slowly putting down his sack of teeth.

"That's a-um, that's a greyhound. Do you know what greyhounds _do_ to rabbits?" Jack stated.

"Eh, there's a pretty safe bet he's never met a rabbit like me. Six foot one, nerves of steel, master of Tai Chi and the ancient art of Ju Jit- CRICKEY!" he said, as Jack set off the alarm clock, causing Abbey to go crazy. Bunny ran from Abbey all over the walls.

"Stop! Sit! Down, girl, down!" Jaime desperatly tried to calm her down. Sandy couldn't get a clear shot at the greyhound, and threw the sand ball on a wild attempt to subdue Abbey. It instead hit Tooth, bounced into Baby Tooth, bounced around the room, and hit Bunny. Then hit Abbey. Then North, who colapsed on Jaime's bed, sending Jaime flying into Sandy's arms. With the shake of his head, Jaime fell asleep in Sandy's arms.

"Whoops. Oh, I really wish I had a camera right now." Jack said, in between fits of laughter. After we had laughed our heads off, I caught something out of the corner of my eye fly past the window. Rushing over to the window, I caught one last glimpse of something. Something pitch black and in the vauge shape of a horse.

A Nightmare.

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**one of my longer chapters, but I couldn't help not putting this in!**

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**questions, comments, suggestions, and concerns go in the box below!**


	13. The Sandman is Dead

Jack, Sandy and I jumped out the window, Jack flying, Sandy on a dream cloud, and me in my sand-plane. We followed the Nightmare until we got to an office building roof in down town Burgess. We circled it, but the Nightmare seemed to have dissapeared. Uppon landing on the roof, we wished we had left the Nightmare be.

There was a scratching sound behind us.

"Let's split up." Jack suggested. I knew it was a bad idea, but, I went through with it anyway. As I searched the roof for the source of the scratching sound. Just then, Sandy ran past grabbing my arm on his way. He pullled me along, then ducked behind a ventalation duct. From what I could see from our vantage point, Jack was having a heated conversation with someone I couldn't see. I looked over to Sandy to see if he would do anything, only to see he was gone.

"Sandy!" I ducked out of my hiding spot and froze in my tracks. It was that terror freeze I had experienced when I had first seen the frost giant. The figure standing with his back to me, was none other than Pitch Black, the boogey man himself.

And Sandy was creeping up behind him.

"This isn't your fight, Jack." he said.

"You made it my fight when you sto-" Jack was cut off when Pitch saw Sandy. He jumped to the edge of the roof.

"Huh, huh, huh! Now, _this_ is who I'm looking for!"

Sandy made those dream sand horse whips again and lashed at Pitch, who dodged them. He formed a giant scythe out of shadows and swung at Sandy. Sandy dodged and lashed out, wrapping the whips around Pitch. As they faught, I snapped out of my terror freeze and ran to where Jack was standing. We stood, watching as Sandy and Pitch fought. Eventually, Sandy managed to throw Pitch to the streets below.

"Whoa. Remind me not to get on your bad side!" Jack said to Sandy. The three of us flew, or in Sandy's case floated, down to the streets.

"Okay, easy! You can't blame me for trying, Sandy. You don't know what it's like to be weak and hated. It was stupid of me to mess with your dreams. So, I'll tell you what," he said picking himself up. "you can have them back."

Nightmares appeared out of every nook, cranie, rooftop, sewer grate, and alley within fifteen feet of us. They had us surrounded. Fear was pressing in on my chest. And, I assumed, so was Jakc and Sandy. But, we all stood back to back, staring defiantly into the literal, face of fear.

"Okay, I'll take this hundred, Sandy, take the hundred on the left, and Ashllyn, you take the hundred on the right." Jack said.

"Jack, they outnumber us three hundred to three. We're basically screwed," I said "But we can still try."

I concentrated as hard as I could, just as I had at the Tooth Palace. I felt the purple sparks on my fingers again.

Pitch smirked and said, "Boo." and the Nightmares broke loose.

Sandy formed a dream cloud, and pulled Jack and I onto it. If I concentrated hard enough, I could zap Nightmares out of the sky with purple lightning bolts. Jack was flying around freezing Nightmares left and right, Sandy was whipping them with his dream sand, and I found that, if I concentrated enough, I could _make_ things out of purple energy. I caged Nightmares, smashed them with giant purple mallets, and crushed them with glowing purple walls.

"That's new, mate!" I heard someone say behind me. I turned and saw...

"Bunny? Glad you could join the party!" I called, zapping a Nightmare behind his head. He was in the sleigh, with North slashing out at Nightmares. Just then, Jack landed on the wing.

"You might wanna duck." Bunny said as his boomerang came soaring back, covered with Nightmare dust.

As we fought, Pitch was slowly creeping up behind Sandy. Before I could even warn him, Pitch had a bow and arrow made of black Nightmare dust.

"NO!" Jack yelled as Pitch shot the arrow at Sandy's back. The dream sand overtook him faster than ever imagineable. As he dissolved, so did the dream cloud. That I was standing on. It was definatly on my list of _oh, no! _moments. I plummeted towards the pavement. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.

But it never came. Tentatively opening my eyes, I saw that Bunny had caught me **(Not what, or more likely who, you where expecting, right?)**

"You alright, ya little gumby?" he asked. I nodded still in shock. He set me down, and a moment later, Jack fell into the sleigh, unconsious.

"Is Sandy really..." I asked. Tooth nodded.

"He really..." Bunny nodded.

"Ohhh," I moaned. Sandy was really gone.

The Sandman was dead, and, along with him, all of the sweet dreams of children.

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**As always, comments, suggestions, questions, and concerns go in the box below.**


	14. Sastakovitch

The Sandman had died at one in the morning. And here we all were, only four hours later, greiving at the Pole. We had a quiet memorial-type service near the Globe. Tooth and I both broke down crying towards the end, and even 'nerves of steel' Bunny's eyes got a little misty.

It was only two days until Easter, and North had a hunch that we could defeat Pitch by making this Easter Sunday the greatest Easter Egg hunt any child will ever have. While the three of them discussed plans, I wandered of towards the workshop. It didn't fill me with whimsical joy anymore, it was more like the happy, brightly colored toys were mocking Sandy's death. Sandy had just died. Everything should be cold and gray.

But I knew that was just the greif. If the yetis _didn't_ make enough happy, colorful toys, the children would definatly be overrun by Pitch's Nightmares. Eventualy, I found the yetis brak room. It had a hot cocoa dispenser on one on the tables. I took two cups, and put a shot of peppermint in mine, but left the other plain. Thanking the yetis, I continued to wander.

Pretty soon after, I saw a little frost trail leading down one of the hallways. As, I walked down it, I found myself in an enourmus library. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and a labyarinth of them stood in the middle. I followed the path that had frost along it, knowing where it would lead me.

"I just felt like there was something else I could do." I heard Jack's voice.

"Jack, there was nothing you could do," I heard from around the corner. It was North's voice. I stayed put, cluthing my cocoas.

"But Sandy-" Jack started.

"Sandy would have wanted you to help the children." North finished. There was silence for a while after that. North came around the corner and put his hand on my shoulder, then whispered.

"Your turn."

I nodded, took a deep breath, and walked out from behind my corner. Jack was sitting on a window sill, looking at the Actric sunrise.

"Hey," I said, sitting on the other end of the sill.

"Hey," he answered.

"I brought you a cocoa." I said, thrusting the cup forwards.

"Thanks," he accepted the cocoa. We sat in silence for a while.

"North's right you know." I said, sipping my cocoa.

"But Sandy's gone," he stated.

"And we couldn't do anything, Jack. If antone could have done something, it would have been me. I was right there with him. You have no idea how bad I feel. And I've only known him for three days!" I said. Jack didn't say anything for a while.

"Ashllyn, do you ever get that feeling that you've just failed at everthing you've ever tried to do?" he asked.

"Yeah. like every time I try to make a friend. Or try to sled. Or try to play dogeball in gym." I answered with a slight smile. Jack laughed, and his laugh, like every time I heard it, made me relax and made me feel like everything was going to be okay.

"You have friends! Like Tooth, and Bunny, and North, and me, and... and Sandy. And after all this, we can still have that sled lesson. But I can't help you with that dodgeball thing."

We both laughed, and I finally understood that old saying, 'laughter is the best medicine.'

"We probably should go meet the others to talk about Easter." I said, helping him off the sill. We walked through the workshop, and back to where the Guardians were gathered.

"Good, you two here. We must hurry to the Warren!" North said upon our arrival "Prepare the sleigh!" he called to the yetis. Bunny hopped in front of him.

"Oh, no, mate. My warren, my rules. Ha ha, buckle up!" Bunny said evily, tapping his foot on the ground.

"Sastakovitch!" North cursed in Russian as a tunnnel opened up underneath us, along with a pair of yetis and an elf. We slipped and slid in a mossy tunnel. Jack was laughing like he was having a great time, North was screaming, and Bunny was smirking. At the end of the tunnel, a light shone, wich was really strange seeing as we were at least ten feet underground. When the tunnel ended, it dumped us into somwhere I had only ever read about or seen in books.

Somewhere I never thought I would see if I stayed in my little village.

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**Sorry if I spelled sastakovitch wrong, but I couldn't find the transcript or a quote to get the correct spelling.**

**As always, questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions go in the box below!**


	15. Egglets and Elves

We were in an island of springtime. The closest to springtime I had ever seen was in my science textbook.

"Buckle up! Is very funny." North said, still on his back on the ground.

"Bunny, this is amazing! I've never seen anything so... so... green!" I said looking around.

"Ha ha, welcome to the Warren!" Bunny said, his chest puffing out a little. There were these giant stone eggs with little legs standing behind him. While the rest of us collected ourselves, Bunny suddnly stood straighter, his ears errect.

"Something's up..." Bunny said, turning towards a tunnel. Bunny's little hardboiled egglets flooded from the tunnel. We all turned, weapons raised, and charged. But the thing we charged was not anything like what we expected. It was a little girl in footie pajamas and unruly blonde hair. We all came to a screeching halt in front of her and hastily put our weapons away.

"Sophie?" Jack asked. It was indeed Sophie Bennet, Jaime's little sister. She had three unpainted egglets in her little arms. But she dropped them as soon as she spotted the elf.

"Elf! Ef, elf, elf!" she cried, chasing the little elf around us.

"Come on, mates, I'm ready to bring Easter to the world, and hope along with it!" Bunny said, hopping around rivers of what appeared to be egg dye. He and his newfound helper, Sophie, led the egglets into the rivers of dye.

"Eggie!" Sophie cried, accidentally knocking the elf into the river. He was swept away with the egglets, dyed, dried, and on the paths to each continent. Before Bunny could sort the eggs into different continent groups, we had to bring Sophie back to Burgess.

"I'll take care of bringing her back!" Jack and I both said at the same time.

"I've got her." Jack said.

"No, I insist." I persisted.

"Hey, here's a wacky idea! Why don't you both take her home?" Bunny interjected.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jack asked.

"You'd need a few brain cells to do that, mate." Bunny said.

"C'mon, Sophie," I said, picking her up. "Let's get you home." North and Tooth, who had been watching our exchange with mixed amusement and surprise, left to help sort the eggs.

"One problem with your brilliant plan." Bunny said.

"And what's that?" I asked.

"You can't fly." Bunny answered. Jack looked triumphantly over at me. I reluctantly handed Sophie to him. Baby Tooth flew over to Jack's hood and settled herself in.

"Yeah, rub it in, Baby Tooth!" I called.

"C'mon, mate, let's go sort the eggs." Bunny said, leading me to where the others were sorting. It was dull work, interupted only by the elf wobbling dazedly through the swarm of egglets.

That just goes to show how wrong I can be.

A low rumbling came from each of the seven continent tunnels. Bunny tensed and ushered the egglets to the outside edges of the Sorting Clearing. We all tensed, weapons at the ready. That's when the Nightmares came. Thousands of them flooding from every continent tunnel. We fought as hard as we could, but there were to many. They overpowered us and smashed all the egglets, save for a basketfull that Bunny managed to get out of harm's way. When they had smashed all of the egglets, they ran out the way they came. Bunny franticaly searched the broken egg shells for an unbroken one.

I walked over to him and put my hand on his furry shoulder.

"Bunny... I'm so sorry."

"C'mon. W-we need to go hide these eggs," He glanced at his own Globe. Nearly all the lights were out "Look! there are kids still beliving! In London! Come on, mates!" he said, bounding through the European tunnel. We all followed, knowing that it was to late.

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**Wow, chapter fifteen already! Don't worry, it won't be any longer than 20-25 chapters.**

**As always, questions, comments, suggestions, and concerns go in the box below! **


	16. Easter is Gone

Uppon our arrival in London, Bunny urgently raced to the nearest egg hunt.

"I guess the Easter Bunny didn't come this year, Josh," a girl was saying to her little brother in the park "Kirsten was right, he isn't real." she dejectedly threw down her basket. Bunny rushed up to her and frantically showed her the remaining eggs.

"C'mon, look, I've still got some eggs! Yeah, they're not my best works, but..." he said desperatly. All we could do was stand there and watch as the little girl literaly walked right through Bunny. She walked with her little brother out of the park to her waiting parents. Bunny stared in disbelief after her.

Just then, Jack landed in the park. Bunny turned.

"Where were you? The Nightmares came! They- they smashed all the eggs. All of them." Bunny said, confronting Jack. I noticed something in Jack's hand. It was golden cylinder with marble and sappire inlaid in it. Tooth gasped when she saw it.

"Jack, is that a tooth capsul?" she asked. Jack hastily shoved it into his sweatshirt pocket.

"Umm..." he said. Bunny stepped towards Jack.

"Is that what you did? You dumped the ankle-biter, then went for your _baby teeth_?" Bunny asked. Baby Tooth flew out of Jack's hood and started chirping away to Bunny, who unceremoniously swatted her away.

"I knew we couldn't trust him!" Bunny said, turning to us. North stood speechlessly, Tooth looked heartbroken, and I felt betreyed. Jack looked at me for support.

"Jack... I... I..." I began. If he really went for his baby teeth over trying to save Easter, then he wasn't who I thought he was. I knew he didn't like Bunny, but directly ignoring Bunny's desperate attempts to save Easter...that was too far.

I must have looked angry or disapointed, because after he looked at me, he flew away. Tooth came over and put her feathered arm around me. I was in shock. Jack had just... left. Left the guardians. I took a deep breath and said to the rest of the guardians

"The Man in the Moon chose him for a reason. He chose him because you-_we_-needed him to help defeat Pitch."

They stared at me for a while, until Bunny broke the silence.

"You're acctually going to try and find him? He betrayed us!"

"You don't know that!" I insisted. "He could have been tricked!"

"C'mon, we need to get back to the Pole. If we're gonna defeat Pitch, we need a plan." Bunny said.

I dejectedly followed them through the tunnels and to the Pole. They gatheredaround a table and started discussing tactics and strategies and other stuff I didn't pay attention to. Instead, I quietly slipped into the workshop, and asked for directions to the sleigh.

When the yeti pointed in the direction of the sleigh, I thanked him, then continued on. Once I got there, I hopped in the driver's seat.

"Um, go?" I called. The reindeer didn't do anything. _What did that yeti do?_ I asked myself. Then, I remembered. I leaned forwards and slapped the rear end of the closest reindeer. He reared, then charged forwards, as did the others. I grabbed the reins and desperetly tried to steer them. As we charged forward, I caught a glimpse of North, Bunny, and Tooth staring disbelivingly after me.

When we-the reindeer and I-had riden out of the icy tunnel and were flying, I said to them,

"Um, can you take me to Antarctica?" I asked. I think they understood, because they sped up and flew forward with a purpose. Why Antarctia? I just had a feeling that Jack would be there. It took us about fifteen minutes to get there, and another five to locate Jack. He was fighting with none other than Pitch Black. And it looked like Pitch had won. Jack's staff was in two halves at Pitch's feet, and Baby Tooth was in his fist. As I circled silently overhead, Pitch pushed Jack into a crevice, then pushed the broken staff down, too. Then, for good measure, he threw down Baby Tooth.

Then, Pitch noticed me.


	17. A Stolen Sleigh and Baby Teeth

"Well, who do we have here? Santa Claus here to save the day?" Pitch said, obviously thinking that I was North. I tried to fly out of range, but he was too fast. He shot three black sand arrows at the sleigh. It lurched to the left, then spiraled downward. The reindeer were in a frenzy, hitting each other, going all different directions.

I pulled up the reins, but to no avail. We crashed into a snowbank.

Good news: none of us got hurt.

Bad news: I was stuck in a snowbank at the mercy of the Nightmare King.

I climbed out of the snowbank and took cover behind the upturned sleigh. I could hear Pitch walking towards the sleigh. _It's now or never_, I thought, tensing. When I heard him get closer, I sprang from behind the sleigh. I concentrated as hard as I could, and shot a giant bolt of purple lightning out of my palms. It hit Pitch straight in the chest.

"What the-" he started. I never gave him the chance to finish. I formed a purple mallet, and smashed it into him.

"Who are you?" he demanded in between mallet smashes. I paused just long enough to say,

"I am Ashllyn Grace, Guardian of Magic. Also known as, Your Worst Enemy, Pitch Black." I said, smashing the mallet on him again. Pitch was so surprised, it took almost five smashes for him to react. He made that black sand scythe again, and swept it around, knocking me off my feet. I hit the ground so hard, it knocked my breath right out of my chest.

"Ommf!" I gasped.

"You didn't really think you and your precious guardians really had a chance at defeating _me, _did you?" he said. I was still gasping for breath. He smirked and kicked me into the crevice. I managed to hang on by the very tips of my fingers. Naturally, all I could think was,

_This is so cliche! _

Pitch stomped on my fingers, sending my down the crevice.

"Ohhh," I moaned upon landing in the knee deep snow. When I opened my eyes, Jack was leaning over me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, helping me up.

"I-I'm fine. But the children won't be,"

"Yeah, but how are we going to get out of here?" he asked.

"I don't know..." but, just then, Baby Tooth flew up in between us, lugging the golden cylinder containing Jack's baby teeth. She dropped it in Jack's hand and tapped the little doors on the top.

"I think she wants you to open it." I told him. He shrugged and sat down, the cylinder held out in front of him. I sat accross from him, Baby Tooth in my lap. He touched the doors, and they began to glow. The doors swung open, and a scene unfolded around us. The scenes changed rapidly, but they all contained one person who looked surprisingly like Jack, save for the brown hair and eyes. The fourth scene slowed down enough to notice what was happening. A woman with brown hair swept up into a bun was bidding Brunette-Jack to be careful while he led a little girl that looked exactly like a female version him.

"We will!" Brunette-Jack answered. The scene changed to Brunette-Jack looking at his little sister.

"It's okay, it's okay. Don't look down, just look at me," he said. His little sister was standing on the cracked ice of a small pond.

"Jack, I'm scared!" she said, looking down, then back up at Brunette-Jack. The ice cracked a little more.

"I know, I know," he said, stepping forward. The ice cracked a little under his foot. "But you're gonna be alright. You're not going to fall in! Uh, we're gonna have a little fun instead!"

"No, we're not!" Jack's sister called.

"Would I trick you?"

"Yes, you always play tricks!" The little girl was so distraught. Brunette-Jack was obviously scared out of his mind, but remained calm, so as not to scare his little sister.

"Well, not- not this time. I promise, I promise you're gonna be fine. You have to belive in me. You wanna play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch, just like we do every day! It's as easy as one," he said, stepping to the left, the ice cracking underfoot. He faked falling over, then righted his balance

"two, three!" Brunette-Jack said, jumping to a more stable area of ice. His little sister laughed. He picked up a tree branch... that looked exactly like Whie-Haired-Jack's staff. He held it out to his sister, indicating for her to grab on.

"Now it's your turn," he said, "one," he continued, his staff supporting his little sister. "two," She stepped a little further. "three!" he hooked the staff around her waist, flinging her out of the way.

The good part: Brunette-Jack's sister was out of harms way.

The bad part: he switched places with her, him on the weaker ice.

He smiled and began to step forward. But the ice broke underneath him.

"Jack!" the little girl screamed. Brunette-Jack sank, and as he did, the strangest thing happened. His hair paled, as did his skin. His eyes snapped open, but they weren't brown anymore. They were crystal blue. The scene shut off, so we were back to reality.

Real Jack looked at me, breathing heavily.

"Did you- di you see that?!" he asked me. I nodded. "It was- it was me! I had a family, I had a sister! I _SAVED_ HER!" He looked up at the moon, "That's why you chose me. I'm... I'm a guardian!" He stood, then helped me up.

"Jack, we have to get out of here," I picked up the broken halves his staff. "here, we can fix this." He took the halves, and pressed them together. It didn't fix the staff, but it gave me an idea.

"Jack, press them together again," he obliged. I then put my hands on his, "Okay, concentrate on the staff being whole. Don't think of anything else." I said, concentrating myself. Purple sparks and tendrils of frost spread over the staff. It was fixed.

"We've gotta get to Burgess." Jack said.

"Why there?" I asked.

"Jaime's the last kid to belive," he answered "Buckle up!" he wrapped his arm around my waist, then pushed off the ground. We flew out of the crevice, and on to Burgess. We flew so fast, the clouds and everything else blurred past.

I just hoped that we weren't too late.

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**Whew! Longest chapter Evver!**

**You know the drill. **


	18. Jaime and the Kids to the Rescue

Jack and I touched down in Burgess fifteen minutes later. To this day I still don't understand how the guardians, or their magical transportation, could move so fast. We zipped through the streets of Burgess, until we reached the Benet house. Jack flew to Jaime's window, and floated so we could see inside.

Jaime had an old, worn, beat up stuffed rabbit on the bed in front of him.

"C'mon, if you are real, send me a sign. Something. Anything!" he looked at the toy again. "I knew it..."

Jaime threw the toy on the ground. Just then, I had a great idea.

"Jack, frost the window." I said.

"What?" he answered, confused.

"Just do it!" I commanded. He did, while mumbling, "Bossy much?"

Once the window was comepletely frosted, I drew an Easter egg in the frost. I peeked into the room, but Jaime still had his back turned. I tapped the window, then ducked so he wouldn't see me. I heard Jaime gasp from his bedroom.

"Jack, draw a bunny!" I called. He obliged, and, once he had finished, I concentrated on that bunny. If I could _make _things using the Gift, then maybe I could make things_ move_ with the Gift. I concentrated harder than I ever had on making that bunny move. I stopped when I heard Jaime laugh and exclaim,

"Whoa!"

I hadn't just made the rabbit move, I had made it an icy, glowing purple rabbit that flew around the room! It was so exciting.

"Okay, my turn!" Jack said. When the rabbit was directly over Jaime, Jack pointed his staff and shot an ice bolt at it, making it explode in a shower of snow flakes.

"Watch this!" I said, concentrating on the snow flakes turning pale blue. Jack was about to freeze something else when the window opened. Jack uncerimoniusly tropped me in a snow drift so Jaime wouldn't see me. When Jaime leaned out, Jack climbed in. I wanted to scream, _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!, _but I couldn't reveal myself to Jaime. I mean, how would you have reacted if a twelve year old girl was sitting outside _your_ window?

I didn't catch the whole of their conversation, but I heard Jaime say,

"Jack Frost?" Then I heard Jack say, "You can see me? You can see me!" he was almost as happy as when I said that I could see him. After that, the conversation was lost. That is, until Jack flew out the window holding Jaime by his jacket hood. I had stood up by then, and luckily, he wasn't flying very fast.

"HEY! Forget something?" I yelled at him. He glanced over his shoulder, then noticed me. He flew back and wrapped his other arm around my waist.

"Who's that?" Jaime asked.

"That's Ashllyn. She's kind of... in training." Jack answered.

"In training?" I asked, slightly insulted.

"Quit mopeing!" Jack said.

"Look, there's Pippa's house!" Jaime, who had been silent during our conversation, said.

"Pippa?" I asked.

"Yeah, Jack had this idea that if we get enough kids to belive, the guardians would be stronger!" Jaime answered.

"Oh," I said.

So, we gathered all of Jaime's friends, Pippa (a sweet little girl with chocolate colored hair), Cupcake (who did _not_ look as sweet as her name), Monty (Who was blond and had thick black glasses), and the twins, Claude and Caleb (who were african american and really _were_ identical). They could all see Jack because, seeing Jaime flying didn't make sense, so he explained how it was happening.

We gathered at the edge of town, and Jack explained to the kids what was happening. About halfway through his five minute long explanation, North and Tooth came out of one of Bunny's tunnels. North was leaning on one of his swords, and Tooth was _walking_, witch I had never seen her do. Ever. They didn't look happy. At least, North didn't. The kids looked on in awe.

"North! Tooth! where's Bunny?" I asked. That's when a small gray rabbit popped its head around North's leg.

"Bunny?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, mate," Bunny said "Look what you did to me!"

"Not my fault." Jack said.

"Boys! We are in the middle of a crisis!" Tooth said. No one seemed to hear her but me. The boys kept arguing, and Tooth's face turned red. "Boys. Boys! BOYS!" she exploded. Jack and Bunny stopped mid-insult.

"Thank you." Tooth said, satisfied. "Now, we have a lot of things to cover, and not a lot of time to cover them. Jack, continue."

"Um, okay. This is the Tooth Fairy," he gestued to Tooth, "Santa," he gestured to tthe still unhappy North, "and the Easter Bunny." he said gesturing to Bunny. Cupcake and Pippa both chorused, "Awww! He's so cute!" and tried to cuddle him.

"Hey, Hey! Paws off, will ya?" Bunny commanded. The girls reluctantly withdrew. Bunny brushed himself off, and mumbled,

"I don't do well with touchy-feely stuff."

"We all know that, Bunny." I said.

That's when we spotted the first Nightmare. Jack, North, Bunny, Baby Tooth and I gathered in a tight circle around the kids. We were tensed, weapons at the ready.

We were as ready for an attack as we would ever be.

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**Almost done!**

**I need suggestions. Suggestions about if Ashllyn dies, if she's reincarinated, if she and Jack get together, if I should do a sequel... That kind of stuff!**

**Questions, comments, suggestions, and concerns go in the box below. **


	19. The Final Battle With the Nightmare King

We watched the Nightmare scamper around in front of us, stop, then turn tail and run. The kids shrank back.

"What was that?" Pippa asked.

"'That, dear child, is a Nightmare,'" I answered, quoting North. "most likely ma scout." The kids shrank even more, except for Cupcake, who steppded forwards.

"Come at me, Nightmares!" she called, positioning herself in front of me. A harsh, cruel laugh rang through downtown Burgess. Nightmares began to appear out of every nook and cranie, alley way and sewer drain, every roof top and balcony.

"Oh, they will, child. They will." the voice called. A voice I knew all too well. A voice that struck fear into our very hearts, even Bunny's. Cupcake shrank slightly.

"I-if you want them, you'll have to get through me." she said.

"And me!" Jaime called from in front of Jack.

"Me too!" chourused the other children, who had each chosen a guardian and was standing in front of, or in Bunny's case overtop of. Pitch materialized on the nearest Nightmare.

"Oh, the legendary guardians need saving from a few snot-nosed brats? This is the best you have to offer, Man in the Moon? Pathetic."

From my vantage point, I saw Jaime whisper to Jack;

"Jack, I'm scared."

Jack got that mischevious glint in his eyes again.

"I'm Jack Frost, and we're gonna have a little fun!" he answered Jaime's not-so-much of a question. He made a snow ball in his hand, and drew back his arm. Pitch started to talk again.

"You don't really thi- AHH!" he was cut off by Jack hitting him in the face with the snow ball. "What the- CHARGE!" and the Nightmares charged.

And little Cupcake did possibly the bravest thing I had ever seen in my life.

She stood her ground, her hand held out as if to pet the Nightmare. Once its sandy black muzzle made contact with her hand, it changed. It turned to golden sand, a familiar shade of gold sand...

The guardians, Jack and I sprang into action, freezing and zapping, slicing and clubbing. Even the kids were helping out, turning the Nightmares gold.

Before long, we saw what no one ever thought possible. The golden sand swirled into what looked like a cloud. The cloud rose and a figure began to form. The familiar form of...

"Sandy?" Jack called. It was indeed the Sandman, back from the dead. He smiled at us and whipped Nightmares left and right. With Sandy back, we actually had a fighting chance.

We fought to the edge of town, in a slightly familiar park with a frozen pond in the middle.

Most of the Nightmares had fled, and the ones that remained where in a panicked dissaray. Pitch and Jack were on the pond, fighting. Black sand and ice swirled around them. Jack's staff was glowing blue, and Pitch's black scythe was radiating black light.

We, the guardians, the kids and the Nightmares alike, gathered around the pair, watching in stunned silence. After a brief struggle, Jack managed to get Pitch off of his feet with an icy blast.

Tooth detatched herself from the group and advanced, like a giant bird of prey, on Pitch. She drew back her feathered fist and brought it down uppon Pitch's jaw. One of his teeth even fell out, and I got the feeling that he wasn't getting a quarter.

"And that's for my fairies." she said, shaking her fist. Pitch stood and spoke through his swollen lip.

"You-you can't kill fear! M-my Nightmares!"

North laughed heartily. "They cannot be my Nightmares, I am not afraid."

"Me neither," I said "Kids?"

"Me neither!" they chourused.

Bunny, restored to his normal height by the kids' belief, and Tooth nodded their agreement.

"They must be yours then." Jack said. the Nightmares advanced on Pitch. They growled and pounced, dragging him into the woods. All that we heard was his peircing screams.

"W-we did it! We did it!" I called. Jack came over and we high-fived. He leaned in, and so did I, and before we knew it, we were hugging. I didn't realize I was crying until we pulled apart.

North came over and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Now, Ashllyn, about my sleigh."

I gulped and gave him a nervous laugh.

"He he, cute story. Well, now it's cute..."

He laughed and I didn't even care that I would probably get coal in my stocking for the rest of my life.

I was a guardian, and I had helped save the children of the world.

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**Oh YES! I'm done! I may or may not post an epilauge. Tell me if I should! Sorry that this is kind of late, but I got grounded, so...**

**You guys know the drill. **


	20. Epilogue or Sneak Peak at the Sequel

**Thanks for all the faves, follows, and reviews! I just hit the 25 favorites mark, and the 45 followers mark for this story! Thank you so much! **

**~Bookie~**

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We had all arrived safely back at the Pole, and the yetis were making North a new sleigh. Jack and I were sworn in, and I was told that afterwards, my eyes had turned from brown to purple, like Tooth's. I was now a fully-fledged guardian, only seen by those who belived. Namely the kids of Burgess.

Bunny was determined to have the best Easter the world had ever seen to make up for the past one. Tooth and Sandy where busier than ever. I couldn't really go back to my village, being an all powerful immortal guardian and all. I occasionaly visited my grandmother, but most of the time I bounced from hideout to hideout. One week at the Tooth Palace, another at the Warren, etc. I would sometimes visit the cities of the world, causing all kinds of strange things to happen there .But my overall favorite place to stay was Burgess.

Jaime and Sophie were allways glad to see Jack and I. Jack finally taught me to sled, and I am not-

* * *

The purple-eyed girl sighed and put down her pen. She looked out of the window of North's grand library. She had been recording her adventure all night long. She needed a coffe. Pushing back her chair from the mahogany desk, Ashllyn Grace closed her leather bound journal

"They've got to get a Starbucks here.'' she murmered. Ashllyn wandered through North's hideout in search of the secret yeti breakroom.

Once she found it, she was surprised to find Sandy in there, gulping down eggnog.

''Sandy?'' Ashllyn asked. He went cross-eyed and staggered over. Ashllyn supported him and led him to the door.

''Okay, Sandy, Sandy. You've gotta help me out here.'' she said, half dragging, half carrying the Sandman to the main workshop. They didn't stop until they arrived in North's private quarters.

''Hey, North! Sandy found the eggnog! And, well...'' Ashllyn said, dropping Sandy on a small couch. North sighed and walked over.

''No matter where I hide it, he always manage to find my eggnog!" North said, pushing an ice pack onto Sandy's forehead.

She spotted something glittering on the table. A snowglobe portal maker! She slipped it into her cloak pocket and excused herself to the workshop. She threw it at the wall, and concentrated on her favorite place on Earth. Burgess, Virginia.

Five mimutes later, she tumbled into down town Burgess, almost directly on top of Sophie. Sophie was slipping on the ice outside her mother's flower shop.

"Ashllyn! Ashllyn, Ashllyn, Ashllyn!'' she squealed, jumping up and down. "Look, tooth gone! Gone, gone, gone!" she gestured to her front tooth. Sophie could see Ashllyn because, well, when you see the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Sandman all in the same day, you tended to belive in most things.

''That's great, Soph,'' Ashllyn said, ruffling her hair. "You seen Jack or Jaime?"

''Jaime! Jack!'' she said, pointing to the park.

''Thanks, little one.''

Ashllyn walked down the street to the park, Sophie skipping alongside her. Uppon their arrival, Ashllyn was hit by an icy snowball, Sophie promptly following.

"What the- Jack!" Ashllyn called, wiping snow out of her eyes.

"Cold! Cold, cold, cold!" Sophie yelled, rubbing her nose. Jack and Jaime high-fived behind their ice fort.

"Bull's eye!" Jaime said, laughing his nine year old head off.

"Ha, ha. Very mature, guys." Ashllyn said, lobbing a snowball back at them.

"Look who's talking, Sparky!" Jack said, shooting an ice blast at her.

"Sparky! Sparky, Sparky, Sparky!" Sophie said, jumping up and down and circling Ashllyn.

"Sparky? Really, that's the best you could come up with?" She asked, dodging the blast.

"Jaime thought of it." Jack answered. Jaime loooked down, embarrased.

"I thought it was funny..."

Sophie threw a snowball at him, thus starting an all out snow ball _war_. After half an hour, they called a truce and went to get hot chocolate. While they were sitting at a picnic table in the park, the strangest thing happened. A warm breeze, like a wiff of summer, blew through the park, melting the snow around them. It seemed to whisper something. Something that wasn't as friendly as the breeze itself.

Ashllyn stood up, as if in a trance. She walked spellbound out of the park, and into the woods. The others followed, calling after her. Ashllyn quickened, the other three following closely behind. She finally stopped in a clearing deep in the woods. There was a hole lined with ivy-overgrown stones, like a well.

"_Here. She's here..._" Ashllyn said, starting down the well. Jack rushed forward and grabbed her arm. She fought him until she finally freed herself. Jack gestured for the others to follow.

And Jack, Sophie, and Jaime followed Ashllyn down the well. When they reached the bottom, Ashllyn was kneeling in front of something. It was sparkly and seemed to shine even in the damp, dark cave. Once the others got closer, they realized what it was.

It was a glass and crystal coffin, standing upright on a golden stand.

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**MWAHAHAHA! I _AM_ going to make a sequel (it's called Nature's Call) and this is a sort of a sneak peak.**

**You guys know the drill by now.**


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